Tennis question
 

With the annual advent of Wimbledon, I started wondering.
Tennis raquets historically used cat guts for the strings.

Does anyone know how many cats per raquet / raquets per cat?
And of there are any required skills to do so? I assume they didn't just breed very long, thin cats.

I'm a cat lover, but just wondering.

Thanks.

Man, I thought I was bored! :lol:

seems that was a myth too. Just like violin strings etc.

Roumpours were put about by those making these items to put their competitors off and stop new peeps getting into their market.

So i heard on Qi, so if thats wrong dont shoot me will ya :lol:

If I state the obvious do I get the flashing light-thingy behand me and -10 points?








Cat gut is made from cow's intestines

Some violin (and it's family) strings were and still are made from sheep gut, so it's not a total myth. A quick Google search will reveal lots of info on that...

Re: Tennis question
 

You cannot be serious!!

Catgut
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Catgut is the name applied to cord of great toughness and tenacity prepared from the intestines of sheep/goat, or occasionally from those of the hog, horse, mule, and donkey. Those of the cat are not employed, and therefore it is supposed that the word is properly kitgut ("violin string"), kit meaning "fiddle," and that the present form has arisen through confusion with kit = cat.

The substance is used for the strings of harps, violins, and viols, as well as other stringed musical instruments, for hanging the weights of clocks, for bow-strings, and for suturing wounds in surgery. Catgut formerly was also used for stringing racquets.

To prepare it, the intestines are cleaned, freed from fat, and steeped for some time in water, after which their external membrane is scraped off with a blunt knife. They are then steeped for some time in an alkaline lye, smoothed and equalized by drawing out, subjected to the antiseptic action of the fumes of burning sulphur, if necessary dyed, sorted into sizes, and twisted together into cords of various numbers of strands according to their uses. The best strings for musical instruments are reputedly from Italy ("Roman strings"); and it is found that lean and ill-fed animals yield the toughest gut.

Though catgut was in use for producing strings for many centuries and the Muslim physician al-Zahrawi utilized it in the 10th century, its use in the medical field became popular in the West only in the 19th century. It replaced silk and hemp sutures which caused inflammation and severe hemorrhage because the body could not absorb them. Sutures made from catgut are readily absorbed by the human body and are consequently extensively used for internal stitches. Although synthetic alternatives are available, catgut sutures are still widely used in hospitals throughout the world.

Another explantion of the origin of the cat in catgut is that it is an abbreviation for cattle which originally denoted not only cows, but all types of livestock. It is interesting to note that the word cattle is semantically equivalent to chattel, and capital as well.

Thanks chaps. I was just looking at Wikipedia as I got notification of updates to the thread.
Looks like Mrs Slocombes pussy is safe.

And yes (DanDare, and probably more of you), I was having a quiet moment whilst CVS was doing its thing. :)

Would most people spell it Racket or Raquet? I used the latter, and looked at it long and hard because it doesn't look right but couldn't think of how else to spell it, but I guess I should have used the former. So apologies for that.

I'm starting to bore myself now. Please forgive me, and mods, feel free to delete this thread and use one of those flashing light things from "Men in black" which erases peoples memories.

Still, nice ride home to look forward to!

racquet

I've got question about tennis:

Why?


So so so boooooooring.

Yes, tho things started to look up a few years back when someone decided it would be an appropriate streaking event. Shame it never caught on.

Like I said, I was bored... :-)

Tennis certainly is not boring Sir Sid. Not when watching the likes of Federer and Rafa Nadal. This year you get to see Andre Agassi at the All England Club for the last time also. :wink:

However I guess it's boring for those waiting for a British champ to come along! :P

No, it's just boring, honest.

Do any British people play tennis? I thought we just imported a few Canadians when we needed international representation.

Actually I feel sorry for Tim L Henman, is he a good player? So I'm told yes. Is he good enough to win a truly international competition? No, seems not. But he's placed under the enormous and misplaced expectation that he'll beat the world's best, and when he doesn't people give him a hard time. Not fair.

What about Fred Perry?
He wss good at tennis - even won a few things I think, and he was only part time - made T-shirts as his day job I understand.

Rgds

Well living in Spain I have taken more of an interest largely due to young Rafa tbh. Having a winner does create that interest. He is for sure the best clay court player out there at the moment and so young!

Grass is not his surface at all and I expect Federer to come through as champ. It is a fair old time ago since a Spaniard won wimbers and that was Manuel Santana,he won that and the U.S.Open so he was no dud. He has a Tennis club just down the road from me here which is very popular. 8)

i enjoy playing tennis but certainly dont watch it on telly. Its so dull.

It was fun to watch when the greats like Borg, Connors and Mcenroe played but i'd be more inclined to watch badminton or something.
But not cricket cos thats equally dull. :lol:

The problem with British tennis players is they don't realise 2nd is FIRST LOSER!! that and the fact your social standing is more important than your tennis ability at most clubs. My mates lad was pretty handy at school and was recommened to join a club fist question he's asked "so XXXXX what does your dad do?"

chris

Federer Vs. Rafa Nadal in the mens final...the Nº1 seed and defending champ against the Nº2 seed. It does not get any better than that. If your not familiar with Rafa I reccomend you watch this match. He is like a new Andre Agassi.

Grass is definitely not his surface and Federer should win but I assure you it will be an exciting battle. :wink:

Now where are those strawbs and cream? 8)

There you go Federer wins after catching Rafa still in the locker room in the first set. Federer is probably the tennis equivalent to Valentino Rossi...he really is that good.

Young Rafa just needs to adapt a little more to grass which is his achilles heel and then you will see how good he is also. Remember he is only 20 years old! (But yeah Roger himself is only 24! :shock: )